There's no doubting the Charge Filter Hi is a capable bike. It's lively on tarmac and assured off road too. The higher spec bike as tested here has a bit of an identity crisis though. It's not light enough to really be attractive to racers and it's no more versatile than its cheaper stablemate, which looks the better bet if you're after a steel all-rounder.

Charge make most of their range out of Tange Cromoly tubing and the Filter is no exception. It's fashioned from double butted Prestige pipes and the nicely finished black frame is mated to a skinny straight blade fork. There's mountings for mudguards but not a rack, and bottle bosses on the down and seat tubes. All the cables run along the top tube so you can get your shoulder through without snagging the wires.

The Filter Hi comes fitted with SRAM's new Apex groupset, their cheapest offering to date that's set to do battle with Shimano's Tiagra and 105 around the £1,000 mark. Obvioulsy you don't get the dual pivot brakes here – it's Avid Shorty 4 cantilevers instead – but stoppers aside it's the full groupset. An 11-26 cassette is standard spec, as opposed to one of the wider ratio units; Apex goes right up to a 32T cog at the back. Wheels are Charge-branded hubs laced to Alex rims, they're functional and not too weighty shod in Kenda Small Black 8 tyres. FSA kit finished the build, with a Charge Spoon saddle the cherry on the cake.

You'd expect a full steel bike like the Charge to have a bit of life and it's certainly a responsive package. Stick the hammer down on the blacktop and the power transmission through the frame is surprisingly effective, there's a bit of spring but nothing feels vague. The fork, on the other hand, does feel a bit woolly at times, there's a lot of fore/aft flex and the dreaded brake judder comes and goes; it's at its worst in damp conditions. I'd like to see a fork-mounted hanger to remedy that. Once you leave the surfaced routes the fork suddenly makes a lot more sense. The flex that's a bit disconcerting on the road is very useful for tracking over rocks and roots. The frame has lots of clearance for mud, although if there is any you'll be wishing you'd changed the tyres – which are a good all-round compromise but useless in the wet – for something more aggressive.

SRAM's Apex shiftgear worked very well throughout testing. The feel of the shift isn't very different to bigger brother Rival, although the front change can be clunky at times. I didn't have to fettle much with the adjusters despite some very wet and frosty outings, and when I did the front inline adjusters were very useful. Avid's Shorty 4 brakes aren't bad either, although they lack all out power when you really grab a handful. The wheels roll pretty well both on and off the tarmac, and they stayed true in testing despite getting some fairly rough treatment in the woods.

So it's fun in the woods, pretty capable on the roads and nicely put together. But this is the high-spec build of the Filter, specced with knobbly(ish) tyres and no mudguards, unlike its cheaper sibling, so one can only assume that you're meant to actually race on it. And would I choose it as a race iron for those Winter Sundays? Probably not, in all honesty. It's just too heavy.

Look, I know bikes aren't all about weight. I also know that steel can give a nice forgiving ride and comfort is a performance advantage. But this is cyclocross we're talking about, an hour of racing on the red line. It isn't comfortable, no matter what you ride. I'm not ever going to win a CX race (two-thirds of the way down the field is my default position) but even I'd trade the small amount of extra comfort for the kind of weight loss we're talking about for comparatively priced Carbon-forked, Alu-framed bikes. The Charge, at 10.4kg, is about a kilo heavier than the likes of the Cannondale CAADX and the Giant TCX 1, which both squeeze in most of a 105 groupset for the same money. Put the Charge up against them and it simply isn't competitive as a race mount.

This is it seems to us is probably the penalty you pay for having a frame made ot steel, the Filter Hi is not the only steel cross bike we've got in on test that looks heavy by comparison with alu-framed rivals (we're guessing this may have something to do with meeting the CEN standard for frame construction). It's also interesting to note the the Filter is about the same weight as the current build of Tony's Cotic Road Rat which in some ways is a comparable machine.

If you simply want a runabout that'll handle a bit of mucking about in the woods with maybe – maybe – the odd race thrown in then it's a better fit, but to be honest you could go for the cheaper Filter Mid and a spare set of off-road tyres, and lose the mudguards if you did want to give it any Sunday morning outings. If you just want a capable Winter training bike and you're really not planning any actual off road – just the mucky lanes – then Charge's excellent Juicer is well worth a look. None of the Charge bikes have rack mounts on the stays or double eyelets at the dropout though, so if you're thinking of touring – even shifting heavy shopping – you'll want to find a bike that has or get a set of P clips..

Verdict

Fun to ride and capable in the woods, but for this money you can have a dedicated CX racer that's a kilo or more lighter. The Mid spec makes more sense if you're after an all-rounder.

road.cc test report

Make and model: Charge Filter Hi

Size tested: 18

About the bike

State the frame and fork material and method of construction. List the components used to build up the bike.

Frame: Tange Prestige cromoly, traditional road geometry

Size: S, M, L

Colour: Black

Fork: Tange Prestige

Brakes: SRAM APEX

Levers: SRAM APEX

Headset: HEADSET //FSA TH-857

Stem: FSA ST-OS-190LX

Handle bar: FSA Vero Compact

Grips: FSA

Shift Levers: SRAM APEX

Front Derailleur: SRAM APEX

Rear Derailleur: SRAM APEX

Chain Wheel: SRAM PC 1031

Crankset: SRAM APEX 48/34t

Cassette: SRAM PG 1050 11/26t

Pedal: Crank Bros

BB: SRAM

Rims: Alex

Tires: Kenda Small Block Eight 700x32

Front Hub: Charge

Rear Hub: Charge

Saddle: Charge Spoon

Seatpost: FSA SL 350x27.2mm

Seat Clamp: Steel Collar

Tell us what the bike is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about the bike?

The Hi spec is the more race-oriented, although Charge make no particular claims for it on their website.

Frame and fork

Overall rating for frame and fork

8/10

Tell us about the build quality and finish of the frame and fork?

Nicely built and finished

Tell us about the materials used in the frame and fork?

Tange Prestige/Tange

Cromoly throughout

Tell us about the geometry of the frame and fork?

55cm effective top tube

55cm seat tube

104cm wheelbase

Riding the bike

Was the bike comfortable to ride? Tell us how you felt about the ride quality.

Fine on road although the fork sometimes felt a bit vague. Better off road where it was comfortable and stable

Did the bike feel stiff in the right places? Did any part of the bike feel too stiff or too flexible?

The fork felt too flexy on tarmac

How did the bike transfer power? Did it feel efficient?

Very good power transfer, stiffer than expected

Was there any toe-clip overlap with the front wheel? If so, was it a problem?

a touch but it wasn't a problem

How would you describe the steering? Was it lively, neutral or unresponsive? Neutral

Tell us some more about the handling. How did the bike feel overall? Did it do particular things well or badly?

The bike is well behaved both on- and off-road

Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's comfort? would you recommend any changes?

Generally very comfortable

Which components had the most effect (good or bad) on the bike's stiffness? would you recommend any changes?

The fork: it could do with being beefed up just a touch

Rate the bike for efficiency of power transfer:

8/10

Rate the bike for acceleration:

7/10

Rate the bike for sprinting:

5/10

Rate the bike for high speed stability:

7/10

Rate the bike for cruising speed stability:

8/10

Rate the bike for low speed stability:

8/10

Rate the bike for flat cornering:

7/10

Rate the bike for cornering on descents:

6/10

Rate the bike for climbing:

7/10

The drivetrain

Rate the drivetrain for performance:

8/10

Rate the drivetrain for durability:

8/10

Rate the drivetrain for weight:

8/10

Rate the drivetrain for value:

7/10

Wheels and tyres

Rate the wheels and tyres for performance:

7/10

Rate the wheels and tyres for durability:

8/10

Rate the wheels and tyres for weight:

6/10

Rate the wheels and tyres for comfort:

8/10

Rate the wheels and tyres for value:

7/10

Controls

Rate the controls for performance:

7/10

Rate the controls for durability:

8/10

Rate the controls for weight:

7/10

Rate the controls for comfort:

7/10

Rate the controls for value:

7/10

Your summary

Did you enjoy riding the bike? Yes but i wouldn't choose it for racing

Would you consider buying the bike? Probably not

Would you recommend the bike to a friend? Probably not the Hi, but maybe the Mid as an all-rounder

Miscellaneous

Tools and workshop

Here's how we roll at road.cc: every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a real insight into whether it works or not. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective, and we strive to ensure that all opinions expressed are backed up by facts, but reviews are always a reviewer's informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores. It reflects both a product's function and value. Good scores are more common than bad, because fortunately good products are more common than bad. Here's what they mean:

Perfect

Exceptional

Very good

Good

Quite good

Okay

Not so good

Poor

Bad

Appalling

Latest comments

http://road.cc/content/review/129680-endura-xtract-jacket
can be had for around £50 mark, not ...